Geert Wilders guilty of incitement

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders was on Friday found guilty of incitement and encouraging discrimination, but was not given a penalty.

A judge said that freedom of expression is fundamental to a democracy, but said there were limits to how far people could go.

The case against Wilders dates back to 2014 when, during a rally of his Freedom Party (PVV), he asked supporters if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. The crowd responded by chanting “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!”

Wilders answered them by saying, “We’ll take care of that.”

Prosecutors asked for a €5,000 fine to be the penalty for Wilders and argued that he deliberately tried to distinguish Dutch citizens of Moroccan origin from others, calling his comments “unnecessarily offensive.”

But the court ruled that Wilders had been "punished enough" and said he would not be fined.

The court said that Wilders deliberately discriminated against all Moroccans, not just those with a criminal record, as the PVV leader later claimed. The judge also said that the public had been asked to respond to Wilders' question at the rally, which made his actions "well thought through."

Wilders did not attend the hearing, but responded after the verdict on Twitter, saying: "Three PVV-hating judges declare Moroccans to be a race and convict me and half of the Netherlands. Crazy."

The trial has boosted the popularity of the PVV. It has been leading in the opinion polls and a survey published earlier this week suggests that the party could become the biggest in parliament at elections on March 15, winning 34 seats in the 150-parliament. The Liberal VVD of Prime Minister Mark Rutte would win 24 seats, according to the polls.